Ah….1994. What a great year. I was one year out of high school, on my own, and out to prove to the world what a bad-ass I was. Fast forward 15 years – I’m 33, gainfully employed, and wishing I could wear a skirt to work once in a while. Why should it matter you ask? Because I have two well worn, highly visible, unloved and unwanted tattoos – one on each ankle. Sure, they looked great at the time. Now? Not so much.

Actually, I have 5 tattoos – I don’t hate them all, just the ones on my ankles. So several months ago I began researching the latest in tattoo removal technology, and my blog will chronicle the long, expensive, and painful road to removing my tattoos. If you’re like me and stumbled onto this blog while researching tattoo removal methods, tattoo removal results, or tattoo removal “before and after” photos on the internet, hopefully my results – whether good or bad – will help you in your own decision-making regarding the future of your tattoos (or whether to get them in the first place).

FIRST TREATMENT: On June 11, 2009, I had my first RevLite laser treatment at Blink Skin Care in Seattle. The staff were very friendly, explained the treatment in detail, took some photos, and estimated the total number of treatments I would need to remove the tattoos. Dr. Lawlor mentioned that because I am very fair skinned, I would most likely respond better than most to the treatments. Even still, he estimated it would take 8-10 treatments to completely fade the tattoos.

After we discussed the removal process, he explained the different pricing plans with me, and I decided to go with monthly billing for a slight discount. I had done some research on pricing and felt the price was fair enough – roughly $2,700 to remove both tattoos. I agreed to start the treatments immediately, so we went into another room and fired up the laser.

The laser treatment was quick and extremely painful. Much, much more painful than getting the tattoos. I would imagine having a blowtorch applied to your skin would be an accurate description of how bad it hurt. Luckily, the nurse injected my ankle in several places with lidocaine which helped A LOT on the celtic tattoo, but because the kanji symbol on my other ankle is so small, she didn’t inject any there. HOLY $&!%!!! I would highly recommend some form of numbing solution.

The treatment went pretty fast and I was out of there in about 5 minutes. I bought some hydrocortisone to help with the itching, but that’s been the only maintenance issue over the past 5 weeks. I’m going in next week for round 2 and am excited to post some results after the second treatment. My tattoos have definitely lightened, or blurred over the past month. Here are some before and after photos: